Title: Pegasus B snippet: Daniel and RodneyAuthor:tafkarSummary:The good and bad things about sleeping with old friends.Rating: RArchiving: Always welcome; just let me know you have done so.Thanks to: Salieri, for creating PegB, and Fenriss, for being Rodney to my Daniel.

PEGASUS B SNIPPET

The nice thing about sleeping with old friends, Daniel thought as Rodney kissed his way down Daniel's spine, was that they already knew all your bad qualities. You didn't have to worry you'd do something to scare them off; when you woke up screaming from a nightmare, for example, they'd just throw an arm around you and hold you until you stopped shaking. They wouldnÕt stop short when they saw your uncircumsized penis, tell you they were just heading for the bathroom, and wind up accidentally sliding into your roomate's bed on the way back, leaving you to listen to the moaning from the other side of the wall. You wouldn't wake up in the morning and find they'd walked out in the middle of the night, taking your first edition of Gardiner's "Egyptian Grammar" and your only nice blazer with them, never to be seen again.

"So," Rodney said, running his tongue up Daniel's spine to the nape of his neck and sliding his hands along the other man's arms, "did you find any notes left behind by the Ancients on your evening promenade?"

If they were old enough friends you could even talk about work without ruining the mood. Much.

"Mmmmm," Daniel said, rolling onto his back to kiss Rodney. "I found a room near the east pier that looks like a lab." He slid one thumb over Rodney's nipple, watching as it tightened and hardened. "Or maybe an entertainment center."

Rodney moaned quietly, low in the back of his throat, and grabbed Daniel's hip, rolling him onto his side and pulling him closer. "You couldn't tell the difference from the sign? I thought - yeah, that's nice - I thought you were some sort of genius linguist."

"I'm still getting the hang of it," Daniel said, momentarily losing his train of thought as Rodney nibbled on his throat, just where it met the collarbone. As Rodney's fingers slid gently down his back, Daniel said, "Oh. And I ran into Jack on the balcony over there."

"What, was O'Neill looking for a couple of Ancient ghosts to intimidate?" Rodney said.

"I think he wanted someone to talk to," Daniel said, tilting his head back to give Rodney better access to his neck.

Instead of continuing his foray around Daniel's body, however, Rodney rolled over onto his back, throwing one arm over his eyes. "Oh, no. Don't do this again."

"Do what?" Daniel said defensively.

Rodney shifted his arm and turned his head to stare at Daniel, his eyes darkening to a stormy grey. "If our romantic lives were PBS shows, you'd be the host of This Old House."

"Bob Vila?" Daniel said.

"Yes, only without the success rate. And the lucrative endorsement contracts." He shook his head. "If he was alone on the balcony, he wanted to be alone. Don't chase this fixer-upper."

The problem with sleeping with old friends, Daniel thought, is that they knew all your bad qualities, and would be perfectly happy to stop in the middle of sex so they could lecture you about them.

"I'm not going after Colonel O'Neill," Daniel lied weakly.

"Oh, please!" Rodney said. "You're all dreamy-eyed already. And I can tell you the beginning, middle, and end of this one, because I've watched you do it over and over."

"You're a physicist, not a relationship expert," Daniel countered.

"You know the great thing about the hard sciences? We know that if you repeat the same experiment over and over and get the same result, there's no reason to do it again." Rodney grabbed his pillow and rolled it over, plumping it aggressively. If it had been human, it would have cried for mercy. "Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? There was Brian, and Dr. Kurinskas, and Dave Capshaw, and even that one girl you tried to date - what was her name? The one who was putting herself through college by becoming an Internet porn star?"

"Chloe," Daniel sighed.

"Yeah, her," Rodney said, jabbing his finger into Daniel's bare chest. "You pick these people because you think you can fix them. Your doctorates are in linguistics and anthropology, Daniel, not psychology." He sighed. "You should have become a therapist. Then at least you could have been paid for trying to repair the crazy ones."

"None of those people were crazy," Daniel said.

Rodney rolled his eyes.

"They weren't," Daniel said. "They were all a little...troubled..."

"Yeah, like the Gaza Strip is a little troubled," Rodney grumbled.

"And - how would you know about Dave? You were in Russia when I dated him!" Daniel said indignantly.

"Well, if I go after the crazy ones, then what about you?" Daniel asked accusingly.

"You walked out on me because I wasn't nearly broken enough for you," Rodney said. "You didn't know what to do with me because I didn't need rescuing." He searched Daniel's face, and pressed his thin lips together so tightly they seemed to vanish. "It doesn't matter," he said, resigned. "You're gone. That's it. You're going to keep pursuing him until it reaches its inevitable conclusion, and then I'm going to have to mend the pieces of your broken heart, again, just like after Jonathan and..."

"Well, yes, because I was either unconscious or clutching my toilet praying for death."

"Your trashcan," Rodney said, pulling Daniel closer. "You never made it to the toilet. I should know. I cleaned up after you. Why did you think your throw rug went away?"

"Oh," Daniel said. "All these years I've thought Jonathan walked out with it."

"See?" Rodney said. His tone was mocking, but there was genuine concern in his eyes. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. You try to fix them, they walk all over you, they take your stuff when they leave, and then I get you as bed-warmer until you find your next project." He stared at Daniel for a minute, then rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll mark my calendar. Four months from now, I'll have my copy of Zardoz, a spot in my bed and a bottle of that rotgut the Athosians make waiting for you."

Daniel ran one finger along Rodney's shoulder. "I think four months from now, your bed might be a little occupied."

"By who?" Rodney scoffed.

"Whom," Daniel corrected.

"My point exactly," Rodney said. "The likelihood that someone will be bunking up with me is about the same as the chance that we'll find a planet full of Orion slave women who've built a working ZPM." He took the other man's right hand in his and began kissing Daniel's fingertips, one by one.

"I think John would like to make a return appearance." Daniel ran his left hand through Rodney's fine brown hair.

"You're delusional."

"He didn't ask me to fuck him," Daniel replied.

"It wasn't about me," Rodney said. "I have the feeling John's the kind of guy who would fuck Puddlejumper Six if it had the appropriate orifices." He took Daniel's index finger in his mouth and started sucking.

Daniel's hips automatically began grinding against Rodney's, and his next words were a little breathless. "For a super genius, you can be pretty dumb sometimes. Maybe John actually wants you for you."

Rodney's gray eyes flicked up through his eyelashes at Daniel, and that momentary flash of unguarded vulnerability told Daniel everything he needed to know. Rodney looked down again, biting the tips of Daniel's fingers. "You think he's a physics groupie?"

"Physicists have groupies?"

"Why do you think I spoke at all those conferences?" Rodney said. "No, he doesn't look the type. You think he wants me for my winning personality? Or maybe it's my beautiful eyes." There was a slightly bitter edge to his words.

"Hey," Daniel said, putting one hand on Rodney's cheek, trying to short circuit his cycle of self-doubt and self-depreciation.

"Or, I know!" Rodney said, applying himself with more intensity to Daniel's fingers. "He's got a sarcasm fetish."

"Hey," Daniel said again, and leaned down, kissing Rodney.

Rodney ran one finger through Daniel's hair, brushing the shaggy, overlong blond bangs back from his face. "Look. Even if you're right - which I doubt - John would make room for you." The set of Rodney's jaw said, Or else. "If you...wanted."

Dnaiel nibbled and licked his way down Rodney's body, stroking his fingers right there on the other man's inner thigh.

Rodney arched his back and moaned. "The nice thing about old friends," he gasped, "is that they know where all your secret erogenous zones are."

As Daniel applied himself to rendering his old friend incapable of speech, he made a mental note to take John aside tomorrow and give him a map to a few of Rodney's secret hot spots.

"Oh, yeah," Rodney said. "He'd definitely make room for someone who can do THAT with his mouth."